By Audrey J. Bernard

  There is no stopping 42-year-old singer, songwriter and entertainer Usher who worked a sold-out crowd of 4,300 that attended the 90-minute opening night show of his Las Vegas Residence at Caesars Palace Friday, July 16, 2021, into a fever pitch of enthusiasm. This was the first show at Caesars’ largest showroom since the coronavirus pandemic closed the Entertainment Capital of the World. And “Mr. Wonderful” was ready and energized from start to finish performing more than 20 of his singles, including There Goes My Baby,” “Without You,” “Lovers & Friends,” “Caught Up,” “Burn,” “Confessions,” “Don’t Waste My Time,” “I Don’t Mind,” “Bad Girl,” “Good Kisser” and “Back to Sleep.” “Yeah! Yeah! Usher was on fire! In addition to electrifying dance numbers including Usher strapping up his roller skates for a stunning skating party performance which had all the high rollers in the house shouting for more.

  In homage to his strip club fans where he’s known to make it rain, during a segment of the show he made it rain from the Colosseum’s upper area with drops of thousands of the infamous “Usher Bucks” — novelty dollar bills imprinted with his profile — to the audience below creating pandemonium. Also adding fuel to the fire and steaming up the scene were several dancers showing off their snaky moves on stripper poles. A-mazing!

   Always dapper, he did not hold back in the fashion department and had as many changes as Diana Ross — Usher in blue sequins. Usher in a gold-beaded, black T-shirt with a matching Atlanta Braves ball cap. Usher in black leather on roller skates. Usher in all silver. Usher in pink.

 He performed “Without You” for his finale song and the crowd went ballistic. The raucous applause was deafening. Then, surrounded by his band, dancers and members of his family Usher said, “Man, this feels so good I don’t want to close this curtain and stop,” he told the crowd just before exiting the stage for the night.

  Off stage he said, “We managed to put together a show that I think has definitely made a lot of people happy and more than anything it’s a pleasure and a continuum of my passion because I love this.” He added, “I think this pandemic gave us an opportunity to really value the things and people around us, to see each other, and in that moment, that’s what I felt.”